SOS Frugal Tip

Every Friday at Scrap Our Stash we share a frugal tip, this week I shared one.
My frugal tip is a simple one that some of you may already do. I save almost all of my paper scraps, I hate to throw paper away. I use my scraps to make simple cards. I don't like to spend too much time on my cards, I like them simple. Making cards is also a good way to use up all these flowers you have or any other embellishment you haven't used in a while.
I keep my cardstock scraps by color and then have a folder for all my patterned paper scraps. I made all these cards one night when I couldn't sleep but didn't feel like I wanted to do a whole lo. What do you do with your scraps?

July Challenge

It's not too late to submit your lo to Scrap Our Stash. This month we are using brads and or eyelets. I like to dig into my stash on these challenges, that's the whole point right? So I went with eyelets since I never really use them. Here is the page I created for the challenge.


These pictures are older ones of Daniel. They were taken the first time we put him in his saucer. He loved it!

Happy Thursday!
Monica

Cute idea to share

I have been meaning to share this for a while. I received this as a gift from a student on the last day of school, his mom made both my partner and I one. It's a totally cute gift idea I think!!



She hot glued the boxes to a green floral arrangement foam.

Hope you like it!

Blog Hop Winner

Thank you for all the sweet comments and for all the new followers I gained!

My 2yr old helped me pick the winner! The winner he picked was:

Michele (Michele's Scrapy Creations)

Michele please e-mail me your address and I will get your prize sent to you!!
monjoyoung@yahoo.com

Thanks!
Monica

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! If you didn't come here from Ren-Yi's blog go back to Scrap Our Stash and follow the blog hop in order. This will allow you to discover the secret phrase which will make you eligible for the grand prize.


I have been reading more home type blogs recently and saw some cute wood letters that I have wanted to make. So I thought this was the perfect project to try and share with you. If your interested in more ideas, here is a link to the blog I first saw these on. They are very easy to make and a super cheap gift idea too!
My husband recently bought some 2x4's and 2x6's just because they were discounted so I was able to use some. I had him cut the 2x4's into two different sizes for me. I then painted them with one coat of regular white paint.




Next I picked out the scrapbook paper I wanted to use. I didn't want to use all different papers on each block so I decided to go with two. I measured them a little bit bigger than the block and then ripped the edges and even inked them to give it a more distressed look. I used Mod Podge to attach the paper. Here are the blocks ready for letters.


I used my Making Memories Slice to cut out the letters. I had a hard time deciding what to do but came up with "Jolly." I figure I can also leave off the l's and just use the word "Joy" if I want. So I just used my regular scrapbooking glue to attach the letters and then went over it with Mod Podge again. After they dried overnight I attached just a few embellishments. Again here I just used the glue that I would use on my scrapbooking pages.


A few close ups of the letters with embellishments




I really like how they turned out and I want to make more for other seasons! Not sure if I like them all together or separated.


What do you think?

Please leave a comment and become a follower of my blog for a chance to win a Nikki Sivils 6x6 Flaming Butterfly pad and some embellishments!

The BLOG HOP ENDS on SUNDAY 7/25 at 6PM. I will choose a random winner on Monday 7/26 so please come back here to see if you won. Remember you must be a follower and leave me a comment to be eligible to win.

My secret word is : gifts
Your next stop is Kathy's blog!

Thank you for visiting my blog.
Monica

I linked my project here

Christmas in July Blog Hop coming soon!

Who doesn't love Christmas? But once Thanksgiving comes - so does all the hectic preparations for Christmas. Who has time for Scrapbooking in December?
Scrap Our Stash will be sponsoring a Christmas in July Blog Hop! It will be from July 22nd - July 25th. Many of the Design Team and Guest Design Team members are preparing a special "Christmas" type post for you to visit on their personal blogs, and many of the blogs will also be offering blog candy for comments and/or following. There will also be a prize awarded for the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop Contest.
This will be a fun filled weekend you won't want to miss. Mark your calendars now - and watch Scrap Our Stash for further information.

Please check back here soon, I am working on a fun project!

SOS Sketch #2

I am sharing my lo for our mid month (June-July) sketch at SOS


I really enjoyed using this sketch! I love creating pages with more than just one photo so this was perfect for me. I decided to use 3 pictures since they were hard to crop. In place of the fourth picture I put some journaling. I always have to have journaling, to me it's really important to document what the pictures are about. These pictures are of my son and neice in their Halloween pj's that my sister-in-law bought them both! Loved the pictures of the two of them!

June Challenge

I have been busy I guess because of the lack in blog posts! The end of the year at school seems crazier than the Christmas holidays to me. We celebrated Daniel's 2nd birthday, a camping trip, report cards, a carnival, Father's day, and I'm sure I'm missing a few things! I am glad it's over and that it's finally summer! I am looking forward to keeping busy this summer. Daniel is a good age this year to do some fun things. We headed to our cities water park today and he had a blast! We are going to go at least once a week.

I have a few pages to share for my Dt at SOS.
This month we are stitching on our los. I decided to use a rub on and also noticed after that my frame has stitching too!


I also never posted this one from our Mid-May sketch. Our first one for the blog.


There is a new sketch up for this month, come check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Coffee Filter Wreath

So I have been seeing wreaths made different ways on different blogs that I read. One that I liked was with coffee filters. I decided to make one for myself. I bought the coffee filters at Target, pins at WalMart and the wreath my friend gave me! The ribbon was left over off a pair of pj's I bought. :)


I used about 100 filters.


For now I have it on the inside of my front door! I love it!

Dining Room makeover

I am happy to say that we are finally done with our dining room makeover!! It looks so much better! I only wish we had done it sooner! I love looking at it! here are a few pictures.


We also spray painted the mirror and the frames on both sides of the mirror. Love them all black.



I didn't get a great picture of it before I put my table back but I will try to take one. Overall it's such a huge difference and so much brighter!!!

Better After

So we are still not done with the dining room but I'll show you what is done, the ceiling!
Before

After with the new ceiling fan up!! I love this fan!!


I also tried to spray paint a few items the other day. I did a horrible job. Here is a before of a metal star I bought a few years back. I had planned to cover it with scrapbook paper when I bought it but that never happened. By the way, I got this on clearance for around $2.

This is a better picture showing the color of it.

And now after. I asked Joe if we could sand off the brown that I sprayed on and he brought it in like this. What do you think?? I think it might be distressed a little too much??


That's all I have for now. Enjoy the rest of your week!

My garage sale finds!

This morning on my way to get a pedicure there was a sign for a yard sale just two streets up. I decided to stop and I'm glad I did. I got Daniel some stuff for cheap! I found this bike for $3!!

It's a little big but I couldn't pass it up. I also got 2 kids chairs for $5. They are folding chairs perfect for camping. I also 3 hats, a pair of shorts and a button up shirt all for $1.25! They are all name brands! I was so excited! Wish I had more time this morning to stop at others!! I am going to make some time soon to go out garage saling!
Enjoy your Saturday!

May Challenge lo!

So this month we are challenging you to scrap outside of your box, do something different. I had to think about it for a little while but here is what I came up with.


I tend to scrapbook using one brand of paper because I always want my papers to coordinate. SO I challenged myself to use three different brands of paper and no card stock. I still managed to pick papers that went together very well. I used old Li'l Davis designs, 3 Bugs in a Rug and Making Memories. I also used a variety of embellishments on this page. I really like the way it turned out. These pictures were taken by my very talented friend Michelle Lanning.

So come on over to Scrap Our Stash and play along this month!

Time to paint!!!

So I have been wanting to redo our fireplace wall since we moved in almost 5 years ago. When we moved in we painted the rest of the room but not the fireplace wall. I really didn't know what to do with it and I didn't think we could afford to completely remodel it. But then while reading the Lettered Cottage blog about a month ago I came across her Mantel Mania posts and I found a great idea. This wall was very similiar before to our house.
I have been ready ever since to redo our fireplace wall!!!

Tonight Joe was talking about an upcoming side job he has and I "reminded" him that I wanted him to do our dining room before he started that job. So he said he would start tomorrow!!
Here is the before picture

(I have way too much stuff up there)

And about an hour later I had almost everything but the mirror gone and ready for him!! Can you tell I'm excited?!?!?

The door to the garage is also going to be repainted


We are eventually going to paint the ceiling too but don't think we will have enough time before Daniel's party. I am going to try and spray paint this horrid ceiling fan!! I hope I can save it!!


I am so excited to see the transformation!!! Everyone tells us that this room has a cabin feel to it. Well I am ready to get rid of the cabin look!!! And it should cost us nothing because we have all the paint leftover from other projects and from when we painted the house. The only thing I bought so far is a can of spray paint!! Check back to see the after pictures!!!

I saw this on The Thifty Home

FREE Full Page Photo Book from HotPrints
Hot Prints has a new full-page layout photo book and they are offering them at ONE FREE per month! Shipping is FREE!


They can do this because each book comes with advertisements that are on removable pages. The adds pay for the price of the books.

I just got my first Photo Book in the mail and am very pleased. I am making a second one for a fun little gift! Be sure to check it out!

April Scrap Our Stash Challenge

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Just posting real quick to share my April lo for the Scrap Our Stash Challenge. The challenge was to scraplift or use a sketch. This was easy for me because I love using sketches! I use a lot of the ones from the Page Maps monthly newsletter. I have them printed out in a notebook.

This is a sketch from the April 09 newsletter.



Besides using a sketch as you can probably tell I used a lot of my old stash! This paper is all so old. I was holding onto it for just the right page I guess! I love it though!


Thanks for stopping by! Come join us!

Happy 1st Day of Spring!!

It was a beautiful 1st day of Spring in CA. It was about 80 out and just perfect. I was bummed that dh had a to work today because we could have done something fun outdoors. Maybe tomorrow! We did go out back and plant some flowers and play in the hose. I didn't get the camera but I need to because Daniel is a crack up with the hose. He laughs so hard it's funny!!
So just some random photos today. This first one is a new little sign I found at Marshalls this week. I found it in the kids toy area, random, but I loved it!! Kinda makes me think of spring with the little birdie on it! I have been so inspired by all the home blogs that I have found and been reading lately! Makes me want to redecorate!

I have to share one of Daniel since I haven't in a while. Today we were busy cleaning in the morning and when the vacuum comes out he has to take over. it's hard for me to get it back once it's in his hands!!

We got a lot done in the house today. I have been working on reorganizing my scrapbooking stuff this week and today I was able to get rid of this table!!! It's back in the garage where it belongs!!!
Here is the before picture:

And AFTER:

Aww so much better!! More to come later!!

ANd lastly a sneak peek at my April Scrap Our Stash challenge. I made it on the same day I made my March challenge lo. I really love how this one turned out, can't wait to share it!


Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!